Nicki Minaj Sets a New Standard for Awards Show Acceptance Speeches, No Shade

She brewed up a strong pot of truth tea and sipped it onstage. It was GLORIOUS.

By
Alex Rees

Jun 30, 2014

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Nicki Minaj (pictured above during her performance at last year's BET awards) took home the trophy for Best Female Hip Hop Artist at the 2014 BET Awards last night — her fifth consecutive win in the category. And she used her acceptance speech to throw some major shade at one of her fellow nominees, Iggy Azalea, though of course she said "no shade" multiple times in the process. (It's a true fact that the best-quality shade includes multiple denials of its shady nature.)

Some quick context on the prime cut of beef served up on a plate — Iggy Azalea was seen as Nicki's biggest rival in the race of the Best Female Hip Hop Artist title last night. Now, frequent rumors that Azalea has gotten help from ghostwriters on her tracks have dogged her rise in the industry, and Nicki clearly doesn't appreciate the competition from someone who isn't rapping fair. Watch her speech in full below:

And here's a transcription of the key parts. Obviously Iggy isn't mentioned by name, but when the truth tea is this potent, reading between the lines is easy:

"You guys, this is always very, very emotional for me. This is my fifth year winning this award. Thank you, thank you, and I don't take it for granted; I really don't. I thank God that I've been placed in a position to do something and represent women in a culture that is so male-driven. And I want you to know this, I'm working on an album. It's called The Pink Print and it's coming out before the end of the year — but that's not a plug, but it's a plug — but my point is: What I want the world to know about Nicki Minaj is when you hear Nicki Minaj spit, Nicki Minaj wrote it. And no, no, no, no, no, no shade. Um. No, no, no shade, no, no, no shade.

I used to sit in the studio with [Lil' Wayne] and I would literally take sometimes three, four days to write a verse, and one day he was like, 'No, you can't be taking all them days to write no verse, you've got to write your verse right here, in the studio.' And that's why I love him to this day, because it pushed me to push my pen and I'm still one of the only MCs that's out here spitting metaphors and making you think and I really don't care if I get my credit or if I don't."

Nicki also talked about a time she maybe almost died but didn't want to call an ambulance because TMZ would get the recording. That was a bit weird, but she concluded, "It made me realize, I don't care anymore what anybody got to say, I'ma do me. I'ma do me, and I hope and pray that BET continues to honor authenticity and that's all I'ma say about that. It is what it is."